1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to accessing an Internet storage, and more particularly, to accessing a Distributed Hash Table (DHT) storage according to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standards.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams of related art home storage environments according to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standards. The related art storage environment of FIG. 1 includes a UPnP Control Point (CP) 11 and a UPnP Media Server (MS) 12. In general, a storage device of the UPnP MS 12 stores content and meta data of the content. The UPnP CP 11 controls acquisition of the content by controlling access to the storage device of the UPnP MS 12.
The home storage environment of FIG. 2 includes a UPnP CP 21, a first UPnP MS 22, a second UPnP MS 23, and a central server 24. In general, content and meta data of the content are stored in storage devices of the first and the second UPnP MSs 22 and 23, and copies of the stored content and meta data of the stored content are stored in a storage device of the central server 24. The UPnP CP 21 controls acquisition of the content by controlling access to the storage devices of the first and the second UPnP MSs 22 and 23. However, when the first and the second UPnP MSs 22 and 23 are not in operation, the UPnP CP 21 controls acquisition of the content by controlling access to the storage device of the central server 24.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a related art Internet storage environment. Referring to FIG. 3, the related art Internet storage environment includes a first client 31, a second client 32, and a central server 33. In general, content and meta data of the content are stored in an Internet storage of the central server 33. Examples of the Internet storages are a picture sharing system provided by an Internet service provider (ISP), and an Internet disk service provided at http://idisk.megapass.net. The first and the second clients 31 and 32 request the central server 33 to provide the content, and obtain the content in response to the request.
As described above, a variety of related art storage environments exist at present. However, a drawback of the home storage environment of FIG. 1 is that it is impossible to access the storage device of the UPnP MS 12 when the UPnP MS 12 is not in operation. The home storage environment of FIG. 2 is better than the home storage environment of FIG. 1, but when both the first (or the second) UPnP MS 22 (or 23) and the central server 24 are not in operation, it is also impossible to access the storage devices thereof. In the Internet storage environment of FIG. 3, storage access is not limited since ISPs directly provide Internet storage services, but content is uploaded and downloaded via the Internet, thus increasing Internet traffic.